Occupational health and safety news and guidance

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reported that a father and daughter who own and run a farm in Hertfordshire have been fined after an employee fell through a fragile barn roof and suffered multiple fractures.

Stefan Wasilewski, 39, was cleaning the roof of a barn standing on scaffold boards placed over the roof when he fell five metres onto the concrete floor below. He suffered multiple fractures and was unable to walk for several months.

Elizabeth and James Reay, trading as H R Reay, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Elizabeth Reay was fined £4,000 and James Reay was fined £4,000. They were ordered to pay £2,083.30 in costs to be shared between them.